


Pride of the Fox

by 09CM90



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Comics), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Apocalypse, Fights, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:14:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21656593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/09CM90/pseuds/09CM90
Summary: The world is now firmly in the metallic hands of the Disarray and his lethal killing machines, The Dismantlers, after the defeat of the main heroes.  Even the combined efforts of all, years of brutal struggling against the seemingly invincible Disarray and his lieutenants finally came to a bitter end.  Tails, in a last ditch effort, created a machine fitted into a hidden watch on his glove to send himself a decade back in time to investigate the origins of the Dismantlers and destroy them before they can end the world years down.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	1. Prologue: Le Fox

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The future is a bleak one indeed.

“ _**Chaos... Arrow** _!”

The energy bullets scattered across the ground, peppering it's intended target area. Dust pollutes the ground below as a result from the energy bullets slamming into the earth. It was a desperate shot from above, each yellow hues glows differently. Unevened distribution of Chaos Energy but it hit the ground head on.

The Chaos Spear truly is a force to be reckoned with, the power and speed behind it gives off the impression that either only those with great speed or skill could dodge a direct hit - which would result in the target being skewered. The Chaos Arrow, in comparision, is nearly identical if not for the fact it sacrifices some power behind Chaos Spear for rapid fire speed. However, being hit with the Chaos Arrow barrage can turn a target into swiss cheese.

“Unbelievable!” Shadow exclaimed. "It missed?!”

The ebony figured landed hard, stumbling onto a knee after making impact with the ground. His leg’s definitely broken. With wide, panicked eyes, Shadow examined the blast region. The large blast area, still illuminating from the shots of Chaos Energy, was a hole-riddled mess. Nobody—no— _Nothing_ could be so fast to dodge the hail of energy bullets, not even Sonic can dodge all of those without a scratch.

Well, it was.

Shadow felt no pain, only a muffled _bumpf_ accompanied with ringing in his ears when the metal leg of a Dismantler slammed into his head. Shadow was sent across the rocky clearing, sending him straight throw a rock plateau. His vision starry and blurred, he balled his fists into a vice grip to snap himself back to focus.

The death battle with this Dismantler took hours but to Shadow it felt like years. The Dismantlers are as invincible as they are formidable. His energy was spent, he has more broken ribs, and his legs are starting to feel numb with the sharp pins and needles slowly fading. His body is in a sort of sitting position arms positioned as if he was slouching in an office chair.

The Ultimate Lifeform, crumbled like paper in a plateau. The shame is unbearable. He tries to move his head only to find no response at all to his attempts, his only conclusion is that his neck’s been broken. Bitter crimson slurry pooled from his lips as he stares into the mahogany sky, the clouds are a very dark metallic gray. The moon couldn’t look any further than it already does.

“ _Non-compliance variable neutralized._ ” The Dismantler landed on the plateau and looks down into the crevice where Shadow’s broken heap is. The voice of the Dismantler was synthesized to replicate Shadow’s speech pattern, however, it still gave off a grainy dissonance like those of early computer sounds. Shadow sneered and spat on it’s face. This Dismantler resembles Shadow’s body and features with the exclusion of a mouth or colour, the quill spines do have this bright red streak like his. “ _Initiating Protocol number 99._ ”

 _Damn! I gotta buy some time for them!_ Shadow thinks frantically, _If they fail, all of this was for nothing!_

The Dismantler flew up into the air and placed it’s arms up together. The metal coating melted folded on each respective arm and they mold into two energy beam cannons. It didn’t even closely resemble to Robotnik’s engineering, the Dismantlers all seem so alien with the way the harden metals can move so fluidly. Like liquid mercury. The barrels of the cannons expand by 20 feet and the inner workings start churning Chaos Energy.

“Heh heh,” Shadow chuckled whilst he stared his death in the eyes. This was it, Shadow knew that there was nobody coming to save him. The cold chilly desert night stings his punctured lungs as he speaks. “All... it took to… decisively bring down the Ultimate Lifeform… a mere copy… a faker...”

A bloody hacking cough later, the light above Shadow started to bleed a neon cyan blue. It then starts to glow yellow soon. It blinded him as if it was the Sun itself executing him. It only got bigger.

Shadow could feel the heat even from miles away. Shadow knew this was going to be his demise from the start, there simply was no way any of them could reach them in terms of power anymore. _The Disarray_ and his nine angels of death, _The Dismantlers_ , had already become God compared to any of them combined.

“I’m... com—comparing... myself to _you_? Ha!” Shadow shouted upwards at The Dismantler. “You’re... not even good... enough to be my... fake!”

Unfortunately, Shadow lost consciousness from his injuries.

 _Maria…_ Was the last and only thing Shadow thought before blacking

“ _D:\ >_ _ **Yellow Cannon Flash**_ _.exe,_ ” The Dismantler bleated out as a massive pillar of energy came firing down onto the plateau. The plateau was engulfed in nuclear explosions, creating a huge hole miles deep where Shadow use to be. The Dismantler’s eyes emit a glow and a grid conveys the ground before taking off.

* * *

“I think we’re in the clear. they never think of checking below RADAR in this city,” Tails said, making a quick nimble turn with the aeroplane. Tails adjusted his satchel uneasily, furrowing his brow as he furthered with a question. “Why did we have to leave him behind?”

“I don’t like the fact we had to let him fight alone but Shadow’s a strong cookie,” Sonic responded, peering out the window. “Besides, he specifically said – and I quote - ‘Grrr get out of here and get that device and save the world or I’ll kill you myself, grrr!’, any of that rings a bell?”

“I understand, though, I have been working on this device for years, being on this weeklong treasure hunt for things like computer parts and the final component really sucked...” Tails sighed in response tiredly as he rubbed the previous sleepless nights out of his eyes. “But it’ll be all worth it if my theory is correct, now that we have that missing component, we could remotely flood their syst—”

Sonic tuned him out until he finished.

“Now that we’re hours ahead of that guy, your lab can be reached within thirty minutes, and we have Shadow handling that guy.” Sonic leaned his legs on the edge of the plane, arms behind his head. “I mean, this is gonna be a breeze so we can just take the scenic route. We’ll go scoop Shadow when he’s done having fun and gives him the slip.”

“Maybe you should focus more on getting there,” A voice interjects. Sonic turns on the onboard transmission monitor planted inside of the cockpit deck. A figure can be barely made out in the interference. “We’ve only been able to visually see one of those things but….”

Tails adjusted the monitor.

“We sent Charmy on a bit of recon two hours ago and he’s go info that you need to know.” There, the footage is of Knuckles. “We should probably focus on what you’ll do when you get back to the bunker. The Dismantlers are really out in force right now, about the most they’ve been in months, and I’ve got sightings of Disarray...”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Sonic’s eyes lit up. “Plural?

“Is that… about my eye?” Knuckles rubbed his eye-patch in annoyance. The video starts to cut along with the audio. Something’s jamming their communications. “Nevermind, look, it’s crucial we get Tails out of here with that—”

Static.

“Feed’s dead, best if we make good use of the time Shadow gave us,” Tails flicks a switch and the monitor turns into a missile warning indicator. “Especially since they’re all out in full force.”

“How long has it been since Di-stupid-rray and his Dumb-mantlers first appeared. At first, they weren’t even a big deal,” Sonic lamented,slouching in his seat but suddenly sat up with newfound vigor and gave a sly smile. “But now… we got the cure for those diseases.”

“Just what the doctor ordered,” Tails returned his smirk as he started to vigorously flick switches, pull knobs, and pressed a button on the dashboard.

The areoplane shifted it’s wings, rotated its engine, pulled the windscreen over the passengers. Tails buckled himself in before he powered the jet engine, increasing their speeds tenfold.

Sonic and Tails soared through the sky with haste on the newly minted _Hurricane 3000,_ a modified version of the usual propeller plane. The Hurricane is a technologically advanced swiss army knife of aeroplanes, sporting three modes for the plane.  
A jet for mach speed flight sporting a hanging 360° auto-targeting machine gun and rockets, a fighter plane mounted with the much smallermini-rockets and mini-gun for mid-air dog fighting, a walker with homing missiles and an anti-tankgun to combat those pesky Dismantlers.

After a few long, tense minutes, they reach downtown part of the city with huge towering skyscrapers that penetrate the black smokey clouds into the reddening sky. The hidden lab is close.

The whole city used to be populated with hundreds of thousands of residences and workers a long time ago, but it’s a ghost town now. It’s been a ghost town for as long as Tails can remember.

Roads are in ruins, there is a distinct hazy smog that permeates through the air, and there’s a whole group of enemies that would love to keep it that way.

Skyscrapers flew past them at near blur speed. There’s a massive skyscraper that looked like it was on it’s last legs. The windows are tattered and the buildings looking as if they’ll collapse at any given moment. The tallest skyscraper, The D’archie Corp Tower, looked like it was on it’s last legs, one push and it’ll come crashing down in a destructive manner.

The transmission light beeped on the monitor. Upon answering the message, it was Knuckles again but something about his expression made Sonic stop smiling. Knuckles had a sunken look to his face, even more than usual. He was looking around, as if he was trying to find the right words.

Knuckles took a deep, long sign before he spoke. “They got Shadow…”

Tails gripped the flight stick tighter, frowning tightly.

“That’s... that...” Sonic turned around slowly. The blue hedgehog grit his teeth and shut his eyes tight, knowing that only that melodramatic hedgehog would go out in such a way. “Not you too… Shadow...”

“That’s not all either, they know what you guys were up to,” Knuckles added, “They’re likely going to make you guys prime target.”

“How did they get that information?” Tails responded, shocked. “Our channels are triple encrypted!”

“One of the Dismantlers got Charmy,” Knuckles squeezed his eyes tightly, “Let’s just say they _made him talk_ before getting rid of him.”

“Guys, they’re all in the city! I think they’re setting up an ambush!” Knuckles exclaimed before the feed went completely dead. Tails’ indicator blipped for a moment. Then eight more blips on the radar appeared the moment Tails blinked. All nine of them where here for them.

The cockpit’s alarms started to wail as missiles start coming after the Hurricane.When he turned his shoulder, he felt his blood turn into slush and his heart falls deep into his stomach. He quickly shoved his goggles onto his face and the H.U.D came to life.

“They’re here!” Tails shouted as he nearly rotated out of the way of the energy blasts. The blast eviscerated a skyscraper in halves. Tails looked “We need to get out of here!”

There, Dismantlers in pursuit and they were shooting out energy shots in slow, careful shots. Their arm cannons started to glow a sickly colour before exploding out another energy blast. Tails pulled the flight stick, favouring the left side, sending the Jet Hurricane ten thousand feet high in a corkscrew twist.

The energy shots soared right above the cockpit, nearly missing them.

“Just barely missed!” Sonic barely let out a breath of relief until sucking in a sharp breath. Three Dismantlers had suddenly intercepted their direction, rapidly firing plasma shots at the Hurricane. “Whoa! Now it’s a party!”

Sonic looked behind him to see the remaining five closing in. Tails looked left profusely, his left hand on the flight stick and his right on scanning the countless buttons, knobs, and switches on his left. “Tails, now would be the time to pull out any hidden aces up your sleeve!”

“C’mon where are you?!” The fox’s hands were shaking badly. He had to find the switch before the energy blasts him them.

Tails finally managed to find the switch. but it’s too late.

“ _Maximum Armour Mode_!” A blue grid surrounded The Hurricane with a loud whine, shook as it was rocked by plasma shots, the shield took the blasts before being disintegrated. The armour barely held itself together before the hull started to actually began to be punctured.

Some energy bullets pierced right through the hull. Tails heard Sonic say something to him but he didn’t hear him.

“They aren’t firing at full power...” Tails quickly noted as he straightened the Hurricane, “Their energy beams are strong enough to annihilate the Hurricane even at _Maximum Armour Mode_ , so what exactly are they doing…?”

Another hit rocked the jet, causing sparks and smoke to spit from the dashboard. everything in the plane died for a moment. Tails instantly knew that a direct shot had just damaged the internal main power systems of the jet. The jet stalled and began to lose altitude, the nose just slightly began to dipped.

Tails, without a further thought, powered up the backup generator with a pull of a handle. The Hurricane The HUD opened a window of the status report of the plane, Tails needed to see the damage done before he can gauge his next course of action.

The power supply had been crippled, the shield generator obliterated, armour gone, comms offline, they weren’t going to be able to switch the Hurricane into the fighter plane mode before the Hurricane becomes history.

With his attention off the firefight, The Hurricane suffered more hits but this time to the right wing. The two inside shook violently, but Tails focused his attention on maneuvering out of the way of more fire. Tails unwittingly pulled down on the flight stick slightly to level out the jet.

That ended up being a big mistake, as more concentrated shots peppered the jet with pin point accuracy. Tails’ vision began to shake uncontrollably now, The Hurricane started to falter on the right side until the right-wing engine completely busted into flames.

“C’mon! C’mon!” Tails sputtered, his blood roaring in his ears. He finally takes a deep breath after a minute of holding it, his clammy hands tightly gripping the flight stick. The Dismantlers started to enclose the plane, seemingly easily keeping up with the jet.

Tails grunted frustratingly, the jet was losing speed quickly. Energy shots peppered the wing until the loud _CRACK_ of the explosion caused Tails to slam his head against the cockpit window from the recoil. He has completely and utterly lose control of the plane.

“They’re bringing us down!” Sonic exclaimed, “Brace yourself! We’re going down!”

The Hurricane, now without it’s right engine, began a death spiral on its way towards the ground with its right side in flames. Tails shook his head and powered up his HUD to double check the status of the jet once more.

The wings arsenal’ is still there, thankfully, butthe entire plane’s systems were crippled and the backup generator cannot output enough energy to support it, meaning the Hurricane had no power in the main engine.

“Hang… Hang on!” Tails blinked the blurriness out of his eyes and grabbed the flight stick again, he powered off the jet engines and shoved the flight stick to the left and pulled it as hard as he could towards himself. The plane will still maneuver even if the power’s offline.

“Brace yourself!” The Hurricane stabilized itself barely but now it was on course towards the D’archie Tower.

Sonic and Tails held their breath as the Hurricane crashed through the middle of the huge tower, the tattered windows gave way almost instantly. Plasma shots followed by two Dismantlers chased them through.

Tails kicked out the landing gear with a pull of a handle, The Hurricane drives along the inside of the tower. Rapid fire of florescent blobs of plasma litters the shadow of The Hurricane all-throughout.

“I have an idea!” Sonic leaned down into the floorboard and pulled out the covering to expose the main power supply generator and other damaged systems and began to tinker with the various wires and breaker-switches.

“Whew! They really did a number on these puppies,” Sonic musingly smirked, “but they didn’t completely destroy it... This is too easy!.”

The Hurricane barrels through an office, breaking cubical and rotting walls like they were wet paper. The cubicles went on for miles but they were either being trampled by the runaway Hurricane or being blown to pieces by the Dismantlers’ fire.

Tails can do nothing but keep focusing on the path ahead of him and praying that he doesn’t get more hits on the plane.His HUD still shows the two Dismantlers hot on the tail of the Hurricane. One of the Dismantlers grabs hold of the jet, aiming it directly down the cavity of the afterburner. That would disable the plane instantaneously and possibly cause the Hurricane to explode from the inside out.

“There we go!” The Hurricane suddenly sputters alive and Tails immediately fired the main jet engine, creating a burst of blue flames effortlessly blowing the boarding Dismantler off of the Hurricane’s main afterburner.

“And tonight’s menu is flamebroiled deadly Robo-Bozo!” Sonic rudely gestured at the Dismantlers as the burst of speed accelerated the jet massively. The Dismantler flies back into the other pursuant Dismantler and they both crash through the floor, creating distance between them and the jet.

Tails took this opportunity to power the Offensive weapons.

The Hurricane unsheathed it’s homing missile launchers and auto-targeting machine gun from the underbelly of both wings with a handle push, the right wing’s engine is damaged beyond repair but at least he can now slow down the killer robots just for a little bit longer. He shot out a few homing missiles to keep them at bay for a moment.

Tails flicked the flight stick to quickly swerve into what seemed to be a massive conference room sporting a rectangular desk that spans down for miles. The red sky reflected off of thethick metal swivel office chairs that are bolted to the ground.

Tails didn’t know nor chanced the possibility of them being sturdy enough to crash the Hurricane. After a quick pull of the flight stick, The Hurricane hopped andsped along and on the desk. However, one glaring problem was plaguing Tail’s mind.

 _Wet…_ Tails panted. _Why am I wet?…_

Tails brought the Hurricane to a halt. He had to catch his bearings. It was then when Tails finally felt the stings of his wounds.Tails didn’t even recognized he had been hit untilhe feels blood sweep down his forehead, cheek, neck, arms, and belly.

“Are you okay, buddy?” Sonic gently asked him. He seemed unscathed, minus the scratches and grazes he suffered. Tails deadpanned, an annoyed look on his face. “You got dinged up back there.”

“I’m not eight anymore, I’m eighteen,” Tails scoffed Sonic’s tone. “You don’t have to treat me like kid, you know?”

“You’re right, lemme do-over: Are you okay, _Mr_. Buddy,” Sonic jokingly retorted, causing Tails playfully rolled his eyes. “But in all seriously, you’re bleeding.”

“I’ll definitely need medical attention when we get back to the Resistance HQ,” Tails doesn’t feel like anything vital has been hit but they sting badly, it’s probably nothing more than deep scratches. His head was pounding and he felt almost dizzy, Tails thought he might’ve gotten a concussion. “But it’s nothing that I can’t handle.”

“Alright! Let’s… go…” Sonic trailed off as both of them both snapped to theirleft to realize a harrowing discovery about the conference room.

There was no exit besides the one they took, if they got off the desk then the chairs could potentially crash the Hurricane. It would be a race to the opposite wall of the conference room, which leads back into another set of cubicles before a window allowed them back outside.

Also the conference room had windows, a **lot** of them at that, and not a lot of cover. The whole room was exposed to an adjacent window, which all nine Dismantlers were now present with their arm cannons pointed directly at The Hurricane.

“…”

Nobody moved.

Tails silently looked at all nine Dismantlers, his goggles still on with his HUD active.

 _Think, think, think!_ Tails whacked his brain. _How do we get out of this mess?_

Sonic restrained himself from leaping out of the Hurricane, but doing so would mean he would be ripped to shreds by their energy cannons. Sonic breathed heavily, his smirk plastered on his face but his mouth remained shut.

 _There is the **secret** function I can use…_ Tails thought, _But what if it doesn’t work?_

Tails kept The Dismantlers in his view,his HUD silently going to work. Tails didn’t know why they weren’t executing them on the spot, but he was going to use it in his advantage. The Dismantlers began being encased by a green rectangle and then a red circle slowly shrinks its way to the center of each one of them.

_The prototypes have never been tested, it’s a risky gamble with The Hurricane exploding if it fails from the amount of damage done…_

The Dismantlers remained still.

 _I_ _don’t have a choice..._

Done, they red circle is now a dot on all of them.

_Everybody’s counting on me to get the device completed..._

Sonic glanced over at Tails, the Dismantlers, and back again at him.

_I have to put an end to this nightmare, for everyone who still fights..._

Tails subtly proceeded to started to quickly press a set of buttons on a number pad, just right of the flight stick, with his right hand. A tiny square panel just under the flight stick slid to reveal a keyhole. After so, he grips the flight stick carefully with his right hand under his left hand.

_And for all those who died for this!_

Tails used his right hand to grab a tiny key under his left glove, it was attached by a thread he wove in there personally. He ripped the thread off and stuck it in the keyhole but did not turn it.

“ _Surrender at once_ , _we have you completely surrounded,_ ” Suddenly, the blue Dismantler in the center spoke. “ _Yield and cooperate with the questions, we will grant clemency in the form of instant extermination._ ”

“Hmm… sounds inticing...” Sonic contemplated their offer. “And if we don’t?”

“ _Your slow death shall bring Master Disarray much pleasure_ ,” The blue Dismantler replied.

“Bring it on!” Sonic retorted, “We’re not afraid of you, _Fakers_!”

With that, they opened fire.

They begin raining energy bullets in an instant and in that instance, Tails shoots the engine into maximum power.

The jet shot forward, out of they line of fire, and it took the jet to reach mach speed mere moments.

The Nine Dismantlers strafed the window to parallel the Hurricane, harassing it with energy bullets that just nearly miss the jet by a few inches. The jet just barely outclassed their speed but one mile per hour less and they would be covered in energy shot fire.

Now that the Dismantlers are within range, the auto-targeting machine gun on the left wing turned and began to return fire. The Dismantlers didn’t try to dodge the bullets as if they were under the impression it would simply bounce off, resulting in one of them being shot out of the sky. It returned moments later with shallow dents in their body.

The right wing machine gun focused on shooting the glass wall ahead of them, although the glass was bullet proof it was no match for the sheer stopping power and overwhelming speed of the machine gun. It fell within seconds.

 _This is it, this is my limit…_ Tails frantically thought. He felt his vision fading nearly, his body started to feel like it was slightly vibrating, his eyes felt so sleepy, his hands could barely keep hold of the flight stick.

 _I won’t accept that!_ Tails quickly reached under the seat to grab an orange and white cylinder with a rubber nub at one end, topped with a button. Tails stabbed himself in the thigh and clicked the button. _I will show you what my limits look like!_

Tails didn’t breathe, his heart slowly beating faster and faster as the half-seconds pass. He slowly stopped thinking and allowed himself to move on instinct alone. He doubled his efforts with the auto-targeting machine gun to try and keep the Dismantlers occupied.

_It’s now or never!_

The Dismantlers, in a blur, began to effortlessly dodge the thousands of bullets heading their way with ease but because of their moment of distraction, Tails furiously went to work with the dashboard. That key just gave Tails full access to every part of the jet, including the experimental unfinished prototype features.

“ _Now_!” Suddenly exclaimed the fox as he twists the key in the keyhole. Tails isn’t thinking, his actions are laced with adrenaline but his movements are fluid from his veteran piloting experience.

In one quick moment: Tails lifted the jet off the desk, killed the acceleration from the main afterburner, and fired left wing afterburner so that The Hurricane faced all nine of them. The Hurricane then had both the left and the main afterburner both rotated and turned to theleft.

It then crashed through the glass wall effortlessly and cleared the pasture of cubicles to reach the exiting window.They have to start diving to lose altitude, as the jet’s too damaged to carry on at this height any further.

“Whoa!” Sonic exclaims, “That was _Tight_!”

A quick look behind them told Sonic he should save his celebration. They were closing in behind them. All nine of the Dismantler’s, in formation, chase after them. Sonic quickly reached inside of Tail’s satchel. “They’re still following us!”

It was time to reveal the secret weapon Tails installed on The Hurricane.

“Even if this doesn’t kill any of you...” The Hurricane rotated to face them. Both of the auto-turret machine guns now focus fired on them. Ideally, all three of the afterburners would be functional but this is the best that can be done. “I can personally guarantee that this will hurt.”

They were free falling now, facing the sky and the Dismantlers head-on.

“I’ve got you locked on!” Tails exclaimed. A massive missile launcher capable of firing six rows of short and medium range missiles sprang forth from the top of the wings. There were three rows of mini-missiles at the bottom, two rows of standard missiles in the middle, and one row of high explosive missiles at the very top. Six missiles for each row for a total of thirty six. “ _Full Power_!”

“ _ **Behold the Hurricane**_!” Tails screamed out as he unleashed the torrent of ballistic fury onto the now scattering legion of Dismantlers. The mini-missiles are the many and very quick, not all of them were dodged but the rest of the them missed completely.

Although they swiftly dodge them… the missiles are quicker than any regular old ballistic rocket.

They each quickly make their way back towards each Dismantler only to be dodged again – but they keep coming back. The warheads follow tightly and closely to the Dismantlers until one of them.

One by one, and then suddenly, the payloads all hit each Dismantler. Explosions rock the air as thick black smoke covered the Dismantlers. The Hurricane, however, got blown away. They were hit by the shock wave of the massive explosion barrage and Tails lost consciousness.

  
  


The smell of gunpowder and fire was what woke Tails up. The wreckage of The Hurricane blazed brightly and shadowed him as he was being pulled away from it by a blue figure. Tails blinked until he could recognize Sonic’s face, who gave a cheeky grin in response.

“How did we…?” Tails sat up carefully, taking the goggles off his eyes. He rubbed his eyes and slowly got to his feet. His head buzzed with exhaustion and pain; sides and scratches stung.

“I used _Chaos Control_ with that Chaos Emerald in your satchel and bailed us out at the last moment,” Sonic replied with a rub of his nose accompanied with a sly smirk, he was casually tossing the Emerald up and down as it faded it’s yellow colour. “I thought you might’ve lost it there with that ‘super move’, so I took _control_ of the Chaos Emerald.”

“Do you think the Emerald affected me?” Tails, ignoring the pun, felt all over his own body until he felt the sling to his satchel. Although the ground was cold, very cold, the component remained safely in Tail’s satchel and that’s what mattered the most.

“Maybe,” Sonic shrugged, brushing off the soot from his arm. With a casual pitch, Sonic tossed the Emerald to Tails. Tails caught it with ease. “It’s been a long, long, dummy long time since you’ve taken in Chaos Energy—remember that time with the big robot monster where I went Super?”

“Which one?” Tails placed the Emerald back into his satchel.

“Never mind,” Sonic deflected, stretching his legs before his left ear twitched – reminding him. “We need to get moving before we get thrashed, can you move?”

“Barely but I can walk,” Tails clutched his side but he reached his other hand into his satchel, pulling out his arm cannon. “ _Chaos Control_ or not, we did crash land.”

“That’s the spirit!” Sonic cracked his knuckles, “Climb on, we’re going for a run.”

* * *

It wasn’t very long before they were caught up and overran, Tails clung tightly onto the shoulders of Sonic as he kept himself straddled on his back. The Dismantlers stood directly in the middle of the road and in front of them, arm cannons presented towards them yet they do not fire. Shops parallel between the road, no alleys or access ways to slip through.

The Dismantlers spoke no words, only kept them at bay with warning shots inches close to Sonic and Tails if a step was taken. To high-tail in the opposite direction would put Tails at risk and Sonic couldn’t risk that, going through them was also out of the question.

“ _Hello, Sonic,_ ” Spoke a raspy metallic voice, it had the effect of electric guitar strings being rubbed with a cheese grater.

The beholder of the voice landed in front of Sonic. The resemblance of Neo-Metal Sonic just barely remained in the form of quill shape and colour, however, the coat is now a pearly white with red trimmings.

“It’s been a fortnight since we’ve spoken with Sonic and his… Heroes… for lack of a better term.” He stands much taller, his eyes glow orange and blue.

Sonic frowned. “That’s because every time I show my face, yours disappears, huh Metal?”

“Yes, yes, We know _,_ ” Metal waved his hand dismissively. He ‘grinned’ as he stretched out his arms and lifted his face to the dark cloudy sky. “We know how confrontational of an opponent you tend to be, thus the approach we’ve calculated. Which is why I’m telling you what I had done after it’s too late to do anything about it...”

“Something about you is way different… and it’s not your hair,” Sonic commented.

“After I integrated the Doctor’s mindinto my own, leaving him a drooling vegetation of a life form, and molded my AI into the perfect intelligence. I absorbed the Negative Harmony in the Chaos Emeralds and something happened...” Metal lowered his head to lock eyes with sonic, his tone shifting to a deadpan.

His eyes now glow a deep red. “A vision overtook me, I learned of the Greater Being that grew me wise of every single outcome of _everything_. I then… ascended after devoted myself into obtaining _Heaven_.”

“What…?” Tails blinked, “A god? Heaven?”

“I then… achieved my goal of achieving Heaven and doomed this world… I became more than the being you know of Metal Sonic...” The ground began to rumble, glass shattering, buildings collapsed. “I am **Disarray**!”

“ _Nous somme_ _l'arbitre de Dieu_ _M_ _achine._..” Devotedly replied Disarray Metal and The Dismantlers.

“Not for long when we rub that rust outta your bolts for brains!” Sonic’s frown deepened further. “This will end how it always does, with you picking up your kicked butt from next week!”

“Ah, but Sonic, the world has already been doomed and you two are the last of the world...heh...heh...HA HA HA _HA HA HA HA HA,_ ” Disarray began to chuckle and then started to _maniacally_ cackling until it ends. “We’ve already won.”

“Impossible,” Tails took a shocked breath. He got off of Sonic’s back, charged forward, and then shoved the arm cannon in his face. Neither Disarray or The Dismantlers moved in a chilly response. “We still have the resistance to fight you!”

“The resistance?” Disarray innocently tilted his head. “Neo-Knuckles, please,”

“ _Affirmative_ ,” The red Dismantler, Neo-Knuckles, responded. His face melted for a moment until it resembled the face of Knuckles. “We sent Charmy on a bit of recon two hours ago and he’s go info that you need to know.”

“What…?” Sonic’s jaw dropped. Tails’ arms began to shake.

“Do you get it now?” Disarray pressed his forehead into the barrel of Tails’ arm cannon. “We sent my disciples to the base yesterday. They’re dead. _All_ _dead_.”

Sonic nearly stumbled.

“You’re... lying!” Tails’ legs trembled.

“Oh… poor child...” Tails felt as if his stomach exploded as Disarray’s fist retracted, a crack vibrated along his chest as he collapsed to his knees. “Eighteen years old and you’re still naive as you were when you were eight. Children should know their place and believe their elders, Tails.”

“What!” Sonic moved to retaliate, however, a swift kick sent an unsuspecting Sonic flying into a traffic light.

“That missing component you kept talking about,” Disarray cracked his neck and then outstretched his hand. Sonic crawled to his knees and then lifted his head up to face him. He wiped away the bloody spit from his lip. “Surrender it now, Sonic, and we might— _MIGHT_ — let one of you rodents live.”

“I know a certain girl hedgehog who hit me harder than that,” Sonic’s legs shook as he stood up, he kept stumbling as if he was still off balanced. “Is that the best you got?”

“Not really,” Disarray lightly slammed his foot onto the chest of Tails. Blood followed a choking vocal roll of agony. The arm cannon fell useless from his hand to cradle his abdomen, but there was no respite afforded to the fox as he was lifted up high by his throat. The vice grip around his neck closed off any input of air, strangling him. “You’ve already lost all of your loved ones, Sonic, do you really need another one gone because you want to play coy?”

“Stop!” Sonic tripped forward, landing on his hands and knees. He pulls up a computer chip and throws it at Disarray’s foot. Tails’ eyes widen as he watched the motherboard land near him. “Here! Now let him go!”

“Glad we can come to terms,” Disarray discarded Tails by throwing him away. The Dismantlers simply walked over the crumbled body of the fox, who sputtered and wheezed. He looked over to Sonic, who began to get his footing and took up a fighting stance.

“Tails, go!” Sonic screamed, “Run! Run as fast as you can and get out of here!”

Tails slowly got to his hands and knees, shakily getting onto his feet. “...but...”

“Get out of here!” Sonic repeated himself. “Go! GO! _GO_!”

Tails limply ran away, much to the amusement of Disarray.

“ _Should I initiate Chase Protocols?_ ” Inquired Neo-Sonic.

“No need,” Disarray waved his hand. “Knowing he’s the last in this dying world will not undo us achieving Heaven. The fox will probably take his own life soon enough.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The following chapters will be told in First Person Point of View.


	2. Échange Équivalent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The machine is completed with more than expected results.

It’s been days since The Mission. I’ve made it back into the hidden lab under the city, tending to my wounds with the Medic Bay. The wounds healed but left scars on my face and neck, any broken bones mended, I’ve been resting my head to help with my probable concussion, basically I spent the week replenishing my vitality but it can’t help recover the lost of my friends.

It was a setup, but the missing component existed and it’s safely in my satchel.

Shadow… and now Sonic… The whole Resistance were wiped out just yesterday of The Mission and I was played for a fool by Disarray Metal, causing both Shadow and Sonic to pay the expensive price for my blunder in trust. I don’t know what happened to Sonic as I limped away from the encounter, but after a while of my stumbling showed the Dismantlers scattering off in the distance. I could only assume the worst.

Shadow’s death was to cover Sonic and my escape in the late Hurricane. His sacrifice was in vain, as The Dismantlers manage to catch us in the process. I was used as nothing more than a leverage to Sonic to hand Disarray the supposed component. The component Sonic gave was a worthless motherboard to a cellphone.

Sonic threw his life away to help save my life even though that leaves me the last living thing in all of Mobius. Even if I can destroy The Dismantlers and Disarray Metal, what would be the point? Everyone is still dead.

The shame; unbearable. I was yet again the reason that lives were lost, but now I’m responsible for allowing myself to separate Shadow and Sonic away from The Resistance. The two who could’ve stood a chance at defending everyone, I lead them away like a shepherd to the wolves. To their deaths. It’s all my fault.

The cot I laid on was uncomfortable and the blanket was lumpy and itchy. The winter has been colder than any snow I’ve ever touched, yet, the warmth of the countless drinks kept me cozy in the week passing. I sat up and threw the blanket off of me to stumble over to my work desk, which a wrist watch is beheld between two mechanical vice grips. Enough was enough and I was done sulking, everyone didn’t give their lives up just for me to waste mine in self-imposed exhile.

Besides, I can at least get my mind off of everybody.

I reach for the bottle of whiskey and poured it into a probably clean short glass, the glass barely reaches half way before the oasis dries up. One swig later, I pulled up the chair that clattered the various bottles and packets on the ground and picked my satchel off of the floor. I pulled out the true secret component and the chaos emerald to set on the work table.

The emerald shard glistened beautifully, illuminating the entire laboratory. I reach over to grab my goggles and slide them on my face, the HUD comes to life with a plethora of information that I simply wave away. The emerald shard is the final piece of The Master Emerald that Knuckles shattered but pieced back together in a hidden location, it was supposed to be the final component to the secret weapon – which is to transport it to the hidden Master Emerald – but since Knuckles is no more, nobody can hope to utilize the power of the Master Emerald.

I think I have another use for it. I reached for the pack of smokes on the table and plucked one out, I placed it on my lips and light it up. Smoking is for fools.

I get to work, trying to extract a portion of the gems’ powers to the watch. Now, you can’t just _grab_ the power out of the gems as they have some sort of sentience to them.

Especially since The Echidna race are extinct, the Shard may just as well be useless but the Chaos Emerald might allow a fraction of it’s energy to empower whatever was desired. They have to find you worthy enough to handle them less you go completely mad with Chaotic Energy. This is the error the late Doctor Robotnik couldn’t understand, his megalomania couldn’t comprehend the idea of completely submitting yourself to the power of Chaos.

After much trial and error, the result was more than I bargained for. The Chaos Emerald allowed itself to completely transfer it’s power to the watch, the colour completely faded into a dead gray. I’ve done it, the impossible. I sat back in my seat and exhaled the smoke from my lungs, put out the smokes, and turned my attention to the Shard only to find that it has also allowed itself into the watch.

I couldn’t believe my eyes, the machine was not only done – it has been powered far more than I have anticipated. I unclasped the wrist watch from the vices and attached it to my left wrist, just under my glove.

Standing up, I felt my heart race. I gingerly powered it on and upon doing so, a sharp burst of static-like pain overcame me. I felt my fur stand on end as the aura around me began to expose itself in a brilliant golden yellow with baby blue sparks enveloping my body, I couldn’t handle the raw power that overcame me leading me to collapse onto the ground. In the reflection on the whiskey bottle shards, I watched in horror as my irises turned from blue to a powerful red. My fur illuminated into a lighter, creamy pale colour. The tufts of fur on the top of my head stood straight up and favoured slightly backwards.

The tension in my muscles became a spasm, I convulsed on the ground. There was wetness on my cheeks, a foamy liquid. This continued for what seemed like hours until I began to breathe on a stable rate. My chest kept beating heavily, but no longer at a rapid and uncontrollable pace. I sat up, my stomach fired bursts of pain until it subsided. The aura around me died along with the sparks, however, my fur remained it’s pastel colour and my eyes crimson.

This was unexpected, to say the least.

Did I just… go super? I stood up shakily, my legs threatening to buckle under the stress of my body yet I soon become adjusted to the change in my body. I tried everything I could think of to power down, from concentrating so hard my face goes red, to meditating with happy and peaceful thoughts, to attempting to take off the wrist watch – which refuses to come off even with the use of pliers or disassembly.

I wish I could ask Sonic how...

No use. I decided that I should just continue with the plan as intended. Wasting time would mean The Dismantlers could detect my new burst in energy, which I had no intention of allowing them to react. Even with Super Form, I would stand no chance against The Dismantlers or even Disarray Metal. It would be suicide to try to accost them at this time…

I strolled over to the rightmost end of the lab and flipped the rotary blackboard, spinning it harder than I intended. I inspected the blackboard to discover I left holes where my fingers placed. I needed to be more careful with what I handle now. I picked up a piece of chalk.

Time travel is possible and I learned from Shadow that if a user can put enough Chaos Energy into Chaos Control, they can transverse into what can be seen as a snap-shot into the past or future, but if the user can put more energy into Chaos Control – they can physically manifest themselves into that space-time like what Silver accomplished. However, that wouldn’t mean anything I do in the past will affect this future because I will no longer be on this timeline.

**1.  
Understand that this is a one-way trip.**

To achieve my goal, I’d be entering a neighboring timeline that accommodates for my arrival. I’m efficiently rewriting the fate of timeline I’d be entering... something tells me both timelines are destined to be doomed, thus leading me to believe that my violation of the timeline’s destiny will cancel out the fate of that timeline in exchange of this one.

In more basic terms: the moment I leave, this timeline will be effectively be wiped from the face of reality – There would be no going back, I’m permanently residing in the new timeline as an entity entirely separate from that timeline’s Tails.

**2.  
Changes in the timeline.**

I believe I only have enough power to jump linearly to the next-most timeline, meaning that the only change in that time would either be my interference in the timeline or a very minor change that’s next to obscurity—such as an anthill being slightly to the left. There would be no radical differences as I don’t have the power to leap such a distance in the dimension.

**3.  
Traveling into the new timeline at the correct time.**

To leave this this doomed timeline, I’d have to create a linear temporal loop that can shoot me into the new Timeline. The ‘loop’ is misleading as the previous timeline will be destroyed, effectively nullifying the temporal loop from this timeline into the next. My goal is to shoot for at least ten years in the past this day, however, I could overshoot it or undershoot it with a significantly low margin of error.

The only problem that I can think of is the location of where I’ll land… which I can almost guarantee that would be _on Mobius_ but any distinct location would play out as nothing more than a guessing game. I’d have to deal with that problem as it comes up, but that could hinder my plans.

If I can go back in time I can destroy Metal Sonic before he can ever have a chance to achieve ‘Heaven’, whatever that meant.

I began devising a plan for what I can do at this time. I felt myself able to process more thoughts firing rapidly in my brain, my understanding of everything became elevated… as if I was being enlightened by the power of The Chaos Emerald along with The Shard of The Master Emerald.

**1.**

_Locate Doctor Robotnik’s hidden prison and interrogate him_ on the reasoning of the Badniks second activation, the Dismantlers, any plans he has for world domination before he was double-crossed by Metal Sonic. Before the rise of Disarray, the Badniks were in full invasion despite the Doctor being placed into custody after the events of the Phantom Ruby and Infinite’s defeat. If he hasn’t been in control of his operating system, SysEgg: who has administrative access, how did they gain access, and why?

**2.**

_Gain access to SysEgg_ , the Doctor’s computer operating system that’s hosted on his Mother Computer should be a cornucopia of information regarding Metal Sonic and any probable prototypes. The Doctor’s word cannot be fully trusted and he is bound to try to mislead me, thus I need to see the information for myself since The Doctor will probably not reveal everything he has plans.

**3.**

_Locate the probable prototypes of The Dismantlers_ and exterminate them. I will wipe them from history to avoid any future production. All blueprints, notes, prototypes, and the whole location they are located will be rendered to ash. I want nothing to be salvageable from the prototypes and if The Doctor is truly responsible for the creation of The Dismantlers, I will have to ensure that he can never recreate them by any means necessary.

The thought of murder doesn’t sit well with me but I will do anything it takes to save the future from Disarray.

**4.**

_Discover what ‘Heaven’ is_ and put measures to prevent it.

**5.**

_Wipe Metal Sonic from existence_ and everything that’s even remotely close to his assembly. This also means that EggSys will be entirely purged of any and all information, all of The Doctor’s creations will be rendered to ash, and all of his laboratories will be annihilated. The Doctor will obviously object to the destruction of his life work, but he will either remain in custody or be rendered unable to tend to his hobby of machinery or robotics for the rest of his life.

With this plan in mind, I took steps back and reread my plan to save that timeline’s future. I discovered one great flaw in the plan:

If it ever got out that I’m from the future (or a different timeline), there would be the risk of the prototypes going into hiding and my only lead through The Doctor would be rendered useless. My entire plan would be thrown out and I’d be spending countless and precious time chasing after any and all leads that could go nowhere and doom everything.

A pseudonym was needed to hide my identity. I figure that nobody could potentially pinpoint my true identity based off of looks alone because of the change in my appearance, however, I’d need to work on a name.

Metres “Velo” Percond was the best I could come up with, I’ll be sticking with Velo but if I ever have to write down my name then that was it.

I was finally ready to attempt the biggest and hardest part of the plan: preform the linear temporal loop. I stood in the middle of the hidden lab after snatching my satchel and cramming in as much tools and gadgets as I can fit into it, I breathed in deeply and exhaled even deeper. I plucked out a cigarette to try and calm my nerves before I leave this timeline for good.

I flick the smoke out of my lips and squared myself away, I didn’t know what I did but I can feel the familiar static-like pricks all over my body as the golden aura returned with a vengeance. I burned bright and shook the ground, knocking over everything. The sparks returned to my body and then spread to the ground, creating a spherical shape around me.

“ ** _Chaos Control_**!” I cried out, throwing my left hand in front of me. The world around me stretched and shrunk, the colours became distorted as I began to lose not only my sense of smell but also my sense of hearing with a deep bass overcoming my ears.

My sense of sight disappeared completely and the feeling that followed can only be described as suffocating, breathing was impossible as if I was being forced through a rubber tube the size of a straw.

My skin felt like it was melting, my fur icy cold, and I felt my mouth both salivating yet dry as sand. The static-like pain intensified as if needles were going to burst out of my skin.

My body began to stretch to it’s limits, as if I was going to be torn in half.

It then shrunk as if I was going to collapse and be crushed under the weight of my body.

I couldn’t actually move my body, I’m surprised I could even think through this ungodly amount of torment yet my thoughts were only temporary as I slide into what could be the very edge of life and death.


	3. La Forme De Vie Ultime

I’m alive, somehow.

I awake to a hot, blindingly bright orb in the sky. My body felt numb for only more than a second as I roll off my back onto my belly where I push my self to my hands and knees. I lean onto my knees to pull my left glove back to reveal that it was midday. The sky was a brilliant blue with no clouds in sight, the air had a scent I hadn’t recognized in such a long time.

Time seemingly had flown past me as I stand up, adjusting my body. I pushed the goggles onto my forehead as I looked around me to find trees as tall as the eye could see, the ground was layered like cake with a mixture of burned grass and soot. A stream rushes gently to my left, a dirt road leading deeper into the forest to my right. I stood at the entrance of the woods, so it seems.

I look down at the ground to see that a fire-less fire seemed to have taken place upon me opening my eyes, I figured as much but pushed the thought away as I tried to get my bearings.

I check over my person to discover that my fur has not reverted back, but the aura around me has gone away and has seemed to be gone for a while. My satchel still has everything in it intact. My wrist watch still hidden under my glove, also intact. I stretched my limbs and headed over to the stream, knelt down on the rocks, and look at my reflection.

My eyes were still showing a red color, my goggles on my forehead reflected the beams of the sun, the bags under my eyes were nowhere to be seen – I must’ve slept for days after I landed here. The ugly reminder of the Old Timeline still reared itself onto my face, I saw nothing but the memories the more I gazed into this reflection. It almost seemed like a lifetime ago, I decided to push it down to focus on the goals that I had ahead of me.

I continued to look around, almost in disbelief. Was this a dream? It couldn’t be, since I was still in this unfamiliar change of body. It didn’t kick in my head that I had actually accomplished the impossible until I dipped my face into the refreshingly cool stream, the beautiful sight of fish scattering to avoid me nearly made me fall right in. I took my head out and cupped my hand to greedily slurp the cool water to quench my thirst. I drink for a few minutes before I leaned back to clenched my fists.

It worked! Blessed be Chaos, it worked! I couldn’t stop the stinging of my eyes as I felt warmer liquids flow down my cheeks. I trembled beyond belief as I wrapped my arms around myself, the overwhelming feeling of relief felt like a hot bubble bath after a huge hike in the winter mountains.

“Hah… Hah...” I finally took a deep greedy inhale of clean, fresh air. I exhaled gingerly, I never want to smell smog ever again. I reached into my satchel to pull out the crumbled pack of smokes and I balled it into a mash of tobacco and paper. I’ll dispose of this later, I couldn’t even dream of desecrating the environment I had longed for so many years.

 _Focus_! I snapped myself back into reality and stood up, shaking my head dry from the stream water and I wiped my eyes with a forearm. Now isn’t the time to be gawking at the scenery, I’m on a mission to save this scenery. I march back to my awakening point to gather my sense of direction and surroundings.

To the front of me was the aforementioned impenetrable row of trees, it was covered in thorny vines which will rip into me should I be careless in my steps. Should I head to the right slightly, I could be placed on a dirt path that safely leads deeper into the forest to who-knows what. This could lead to a potential village, however, since there was easy access to water here. Settlements _always_ resides near fresh water. I sniffed the air and discovered no scent of salt, it was fresh water indeed.

To the left of me was the stream and another clearing past that as far as the eye can see, no paths anywhere in that direction. Bad idea if I want to find civilization to know exactly where and _when_ I am.

To the right of me, nothing of interest besides rocky hills that elevate into ridges.

Behind me was an even higher hills, in fact I’d classify them more as a cliff since it was too steep to climb and there was more rocks than greenery. Who knows where that will lead, probably nowhere I need to be so I should just go along the path ahead of me.

So I decided to go onto the dirt path.

As I walk along the path, I dug through my satchel to try and find my compass. My goggles’ HUD, which would normally show a map of my current location, proved to be useless as there wasn’t any data to my location. Any physical maps that I brought didn’t help much of anything since I don’t have any idea of my coordinates, besides, I could be way off the mark in terms of time so who knows if the map is in date?

I groaned, I know for a fact I packed a compass in here! I stop and place the satchel onto the dirt road to actually put some effort in locating the blasted thing. Eighteen years old and you can’t even find a compass in a bag, huh you dumb fox?

I finally pull out a compass only to frown to realize that the glass covering has completely shattered, I can’t see past the shattered glass and thus it rendered the compass worthless besides the fact I can just barely make out the red needle pointing to a forty-five degree angle clockwise of my current direction. I’m heading north-east, that’s helpful at the very least.

After a couple of miles following the path, for some reason, I felt the fur on the back of my neck stand on end. The back of my head buzzed, my heart accelerated slightly, breathing became more intense, and my muscles tensed.

I had a feeling in my gut something was behind me, or someone was behind me, but each time I peered over my shoulder showed nobody but the traveled dirt path, skyscraper-like trees, the brambles, and vines. I couldn’t shake the feeling out of my head that there was something of high importance behind me, but every time I looked back – there was nothing. I remember something like this in the Old Timeline.

“ _Never trust your eyes,” Sonic mused as he offered a hand to me. I accepted the offer and got onto my feet. Sonic and I were in a clearing devoid of any life, a rocky cliff surrounds us other than the way we came through. Knuckles was hiding somewhere.“I know you have very little Chaos Force in you, but it’s important just in case you feel like you’re being watched or being attacked by someone you can’t see.”_

“ _Who would even have the time or effort to attack me?” I inquired, brushing the gravel off of my rear-end. “I’m no one important, I can’t use Chaos energy, and I can’t even fight so wouldn’t they rather use the element of surprise against someone stronger like you or Shadow?”_

“ _I personally wouldn’t waste my time ambushing a twelve year old,” Sonic shrugged with a dismissive gaze. “But that doesn’t mean you won’t get older and stronger, so you should learn to try and work on that sixth sense or you’ll get knocked on your butt again.”_

“ _Okay,” I nodded and took up a stance. “Ready!”_

_Sonic smirked, “Alright! what was one-two-three step in Chaos Sense?”_

Step one, listen to your gut and try three of your senses. Danger could usually be nothing more than your brain playing tricks on you, however, if your gut believes that your indeed in danger – look, listen, and smell for anything that sticks out. I stop in my tracks and about-face, I scanned the greenery but saw nothing that could’ve stood out. I honed in on my ears and tried to listen for anything that could be out of the ordinary, but either the enemy was too far or they were too quiet. Upon sniffing the air, however, I caught whiff of a scent that did not belong.

Step two, the location of the tingling in your head is the direction they’re hiding. The higher the Chaos Force in them, the more they’ll stand out to even the most untrained. Veterans in the Chaos Sense can easily spot their adversary along interference, but I wasn’t a veteran so I only can figure out the general area they were in. I felt the tingling move to the top of my forehead, rightmost side, thus leading my eyes upwards to a tree on the path.

Step three, anticipate their movement to counter attack. What is clear is that there definitely somebody up that tree, whatever they wanted from me isn’t clear unless they intend to rob me of the nothing I have. My mind was buzzing with activity, yet, I appeared calm on the outside. I stuck out my left arm to confront the stalker, however, before I can get a word in – an _awfully_ familiar ebony hedgehog dropping from the higher portion of the tree onto a thick branch high above me, he crouched to cushion his fall and then finally stood up straight with his arms crossed and a suspicious look from his eyes.

“Seven days ago… one week, three major events happened all in one day...” The hedgehog begun to speak, his voice cool and calm yet there was a spike of intrigue in his voice. It wasn’t a pleasant kind of intrigue, it was the kind that a judge would use to issue out the death penalty to a criminal. “I was wondering if you’d be willing to clear some things up for me.”

I blinked,

“ **One** , I had received reports from the locals around here that previously defunct Badniks reactivated despite Doctor Robotnik in our custody.” The hedgehog spoke with deep yet dark conviction. I could already tell by his voice this wasn’t to clarify things, he was confronting me with accusations. “ **Two** ,Evidence that the Master Emerald has been tampered with – sending Angel Island into the sea. **Three** , one of the seven Chaos Emeralds – more specifically the yellow one – became gray and dull.”

I spoke no words in response, it was almost surreal to see Shadow in such a young state. He radiated dangerous mystique whereas the older Shadow that I knew lacked. Looking this Shadow in the eyes showed something that I’ve never seen from the Older Shadow, his irises seemed to have this fire of murderous intent. He can and would kill me if he wanted to.

“All of these takes place along the same time frame of a certain high powered entity suddenly appearing out of nowhere… Are any of these sounding familiar?” Shadow asked, almost glaring daggers at me. “I’m sure you don’t have anything to do with these, but if that’s the case then wouldn’t you agree that it’s all pretty damning?”

“None of that sounds familiar,” I respond, trying my hardest to keep my voice from shaking. Most of it was the truth, so I knew that I won’t be betrayed by my tone yet something told me that won’t satisfy his questioning. I grip on the sling of my satchel defensively as I dug my left foot behind me by the toe of my shoe. Although all of what he’s said is the least bit concerning, I can’t afford to split my attention into two. “What do you want from me?”

“Let’s start with your name...” Shadow begun but I cut him off with a swift reply.

“You first,” I already knew his name but I wanted to show him how cooperative I am to a complete stranger. “I don’t know you and I don’t trust you.”

“Hm! With those scars on you, I’d bet you’re no stranger to this kind of thing,” Shadow mused and then tilted his head in each directions, popping his neck. “My name is Shadow, The Ultimate Lifeform, now who are you and are you working for someone?”

“Velo, I’m not employed by anybody,” I don’t respond any further, which seemed to agitate him further. From what it seemed like, Shadow had no intention of believing my innocence. I believed he wanted a confession and if I was on the behalf of somebody else, who and why? Arguing a verbal defense would be fruitless with him, if it was anybody else then I might’ve had a chance to talk things out. “Would you believe me if I said I slept in one spot all week?”

Already from the look on his face, he didn’t believe me for a damn second. Nothing from what I said was believed besides my name.

“So be it, Velo,”Shadow unfolded his arm and the aura around him now intensified, the buzzing in my head grew brighter as he flexed his power to me. I keep my eyes on him, blinked and he suddenly disappeared from my sight, his presence in my head clearing as well. Leaves float towards the ground as I stumbled back in shock, looking left and right in confusion.

“What… the…!”

I barely had enough time to blink when I realize my body started to slow to a grind, moving my body became impossible to move. I was frozen in place. I couldn’t even breathe, I felt no pulse in my chest, I couldn’t even hear the movement in the forest. I scanned my eyes all over the forest. The trees, the grass, the leaves, everywhere I could possibly look.

Wait, the leaves. I moved my eyes back onto the leaves that remained suspended in midair, they didn’t float or move, as if they were also frozen in place along with me. I’m puzzled as I try to figure out what’s happening with me as I studied the leaves for the brief second I had.

They should’ve already fell onto the ground around this time, why hadn’t they land on the ground yet?

 _Time…_ Did time stop?

I didn’t have more time to ponder as an ebony and red blur appeared in front of me, I barely made out the three punches into my chest and collar bone before he flipped away with a wide look on his face. The pain on my body is also frozen, locking in the pain as there isn’t a way for my nerves to completely receive the pain.

“Time resumes once again,” Shadow mutters as I didn’t move even in response to the attacks until time resumed and the attacks finally connected, I gasped in pain as I regained my bearings.

I didn’t realize that I had been bounced off the Oak tree behind me, I only know that I was on the grass picking myself back up. I expected to be hurt far worse, those jabs were definitely strong enough to break bone, but I felt fine besides the sting of the punch. I looked back up to see Shadow furrow his brow and slowly walk towards me, his lips curling into a snarl.

“Could you see me!?” He demanded, when I didn’t answer – his cool demand turned into a ferocious bellow. “You blasted fox! I asked if you can see me during stopped time!”

_Lie. Lie. Lie._

“I don’t know what you mean,” I wiped away the drool from my mouth, standing up straight. I needed to get away and Shadow seemed to have no inclination of talking things out unless I spilled the beans, which wasn’t going to happen at all. The only way out of this encounter was to fight my way out. “Even if I did, why would I tell you?”

Shadow went in for the attack, throwing out three jabs and a swift kick towards my neck. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I concentrated on him entirely, his attacks seemed so slow compared to Disarray Metal’s punch. Actually, in all of the fights I’ve ever seen or taken part in, I’ve never seen anyone move so slow.

I move my head out of the way of his punches and sidestepped his kick at the last moment. Shadow twisted his body with a small hop, lifting his right leg to attempt to strike the side of my head with a roundhouse. I leaned backwards with two steps back, causing his strike to miss yet again. Was this the power of the Chaos Emerald and the Shard of the Master Emerald’s doing?

After a few jabs and kicks miss, I saw my chance to counter attack.

Shadow wasn’t defending himself at all, using basic strikes as if he was underestimating me. He was unguarded from the chin down so I clenched my left hand into a fist and threw a punch, striking him under the chin and throwing him far back and into—no— _through_ a tree.

“I...Impossible…!” I felt my eyes widen in response to the sheer power I just demonstrated to myself, I didn’t even use that much strength in that hit. I was sure he’d dodge it, I never intended to throw him through the tree! I worriedly took a step forward, about to ask if he was okay, but I was met with narrowly missing three energy blasts.

I wasn’t sure how I dodged those, my body acted on its’ own: it leaped backwards onto a handstand and pushed itself into the air slight to land onto my feet. I can’t believe that I’m this nimble and my reactions are moving ahead of my conscious thought!

Shadow leaped out from the collapsed tree with a swift left kick that could’ve knocked my head off if I hadn’t already dodged, that silenced any and all amazement of my self as I focused on the strife. I respond with a straight right punch aimed at his body, but he shifted himself backwards – leaving the punch falling just short out of reach. Shadow responded in kind with a swift punch of his own, that just barely missed my head.

Shadow kept on the pressure with his attacks, they’re coordinated, precise and unpredictable. A sharp crack of the air followed each of his attacks, he’s moving faster than before with attacks that I’m finding myself pressed to keep avoiding. Any windows for opportunity to counter attack were slim if any existed at all. The difference in skill was evident and even if I can hit harder and move quicker, Shadow’s experience kept me on the ropes. If I wasn’t careful, everything will end _today_!

“Your attacks are useless!” I go for a body punch to which he slapped my arm away by the wrist and threw his forehead into mine, headbutting to cause me to stumble backwards. Shadow followed up with two jabs and a leaping back-flip kick to my chin, sending me sprawling onto the ground. I picked myself back up with my fists raised. “Useless, useless, useless, useless, _useless_! End this pointless struggle and answer me: Are you responsible for the Emerald and Angel Island and if so, who do you work for?!”

Although Sonic and Knuckles trained me for combat, I pale in comparison to a veteran fighter like Shadow. I needed space, he was gaining the upper hand and I needed to regain my balance. I was disorientated, unsure of what I have to do from here. I wish Sonic could just come out of the wood works and save me from the overwhelming might of my adversary

Shadow, sensing my unbalanced stance and hesitation, lunged forward. Shadow, using his speed, began to throw blindingly fast jabs and straight hits. I managed to block, parry, and dodge them until his punches began to become faster and faster. I started to become hit with his jabs until they begun to overwhelm my with the flurry of fists.

Sooner or later, Shadow was throwing out more punches than I even thought was possible. It was nearly one hundred crack punches, all of them connecting, and then tried to follow up with a powerful backwards thrust kick, to which I managed to catch. I pushed on his leg, throwing him off balance and onto the ground for just a second.

It was that second I used to lunge backwards to reestablish my ground, but Shadow was already on his feet with his hand charging an energy blast in a blink of an eye. The orange energy shone brightly and dangerously, I needed to get out of the way of it but I barely have enough time to react before he moved.

“ _ **Chaos**_ … _ **Spear**_!” Shadow exclaimed as the swiped his arm, shooting the energy bullet at me. Being hit with the Chaos Spear would mean potentially being mortally wounded if not skewered altogether, even with my increased agility I knew that I couldn’t dodge the energy attack in enough time.

_Sonic! Help me!_

Closing my eyes tight, I shakily raised my hands instinctively to meekly attempt to defend myself. I awaited for the overwhelming pain, but the attack doesn’t hurt. My legs stopped trembling when I looked again. The moment the Chaos Sphere touched my left hand, it changed colour from orange-yellow into a soft cyan blue, spiraled up my hand and forearm, finally spiraling back down and shot itself back towards Shadow.

“W-what! Impossible!” Shadow tensed before shifting his body to the side, the blue Chaos Spear narrowly missed him and it sliced through countless trees behind him. Both Shadow and I leaped away from the incoming trees, they slammed into the ground with an earthshaking tremble. We both freeze momentarily, perplexed by the action, but it was short lived before he goes in for another attack.

Shadow and I exchanged blows, neither of us landing decisive attacks. He went for a leg sweep to which I hopped over and snatched his exposed leg with one of my tails and flung him to the right, to where he lands on the trunk of a tree and leaped back at me curled into an orange ball.

I lunged forward and went low, rolling under his Homing Attack.

I sprung to my feet and followed suit, disappearing from my eyes but I know of his teleportation trick by following him with the presence of Chaos Energy. I shoot forward and to the right, dodging his left straight punch, and hooked his rear arm.

I shift my body behind him, using my hips and his weight as a fulcrum, and slammed him onto the ground with the Hip Throw.

I go for a punch while he is recoiling from the surprise slam, but he parries my punch with a flick of his left wrist and pushes his right palm into my chest. I’m caught off-guard but I regain my composure fast enough to see him roll onto his neck and then his hands, rotate his hips while he threw two handstand kicks to create space to which I easily block and parry.

Shadow landed back onto his feet to go for a high side thrust kick, aiming for my chin, to which I leap backwards out of the way. Shadow growled as his aura began to grow in power once more, the pressure in the air began to grow heavier and heavier. I felt my heart jolt I as try to lunge forward but it was far too late.

“ _ **Chaos Control**_!” Shadow exclaimed, throwing his arm into a swipe. Shadow slowly approached me, a sly smirk on his face. I fell into a frozen state again. I struggled to move as much as I could, only managing to twitch a finger momentarily.

He coils his arm back to go for a hay maker, seemingly mocking me as he adds on an insult before shooting his punch towards my face. However, upon seeing my finger twitch, Shadow stopped his punch just short of my face and dropped his punch. Shadow released a satisfied chuckle as he folded his arms, gazing me over.

“I don’t know if it’s just my imagination,” Shadow dropped his smirk. “But I could’ve sworn you just moved in my Time Stop...”

I would gulp if I could but I’m still frozen in place, I can’t even twitch my fingers again.

Shadow walked a distance away from me, folding his arms once again. Shadow closed his eyes, looking slightly down as if he’s thinking on what to do from here. Time resumed and I scrambled to gather my balance. I shot my gaze up to where I last saw Shadow, only to discover he was behind me. With his eyes still closed, I took this chance to reach into my satchel.

“So, there’s more to you than you looking like someone I know,” Shadow finally spoke up after what felt like forever. He opened his eyes as he followed up his statement with a simple question. “Just what are you anyway?”

“I’m no one important,” I answered, turning towards him at an angle. I hope that this angle obscured his view of my other hand quickly leaving my satchel. “My name is Velo, and that’s all there is to it.”

“I see, but you know,” Shadow responded coyly, pointing a finger in my direction. I carefully pulled the pin of the secret in my balled fist. He’s more concerned about his monologue than paying attention to my sleight of hand. I cannot remain here to be defeated and placed into custody or worse, I need to get away. “If my suspicions are correct and you are the causation, I can’t let you live.”

“I don’t know what you think I’ve done, but...” I responded, taking cautious steps back. “If you intend on taking my life...”

“ _ **Chaos Control**_!” Shadow stopped time, but I didn’t slow down. “What!? Impossible!”

“ _I’ve already won_ ,” I moved with all the speed I can muster, throwing the flurry of smoke-bomb firecrackers as I lunged backwards as far as I can before I started to freeze in his stopped time. Shadow inched forward in response, but recoiled back as he realized my trick far too late. Shadow resumed time to try and get away in vain but the firecrackers exploded with theatrical flair followed by a physically thick cloud of white and gray smoke, covering my quickly timed escape.

* * *

The race through the forest was pursued with Energy Blasts but they hit nothing but tree bark. I had managed to gain a massive head start, yet, Shadow’s speed quickly managed to catch up with me. Although I’m twice as fast as I previously was, I’m no where near able to outclass Shadow running as fast as he can. My tails spin as fast as they can behind me, acting as a sort of engine.

“Your attempts to escape this interrogation is a joke,” Shadow and I were parallel, he on my left and I on my right. He showed no interest in continuing this chase but I know that he’d rather kill me than to let me go on his own. “I know you’re responsible for the Emerald and the Master Emerald. What exactly did you do, why did you do it, and where did you come from? Who are you working for?!”

I refuse to speak any further.

“Alright then, keep your secrets,” Shadow’s right hand begun to glow as he gathered up Chaos Energy. “I’ll find out when I bring you to the brink of death, you’ll speak soon enough… _**Chaos Arrow**_!”

Shadow shot out a flurry of energy bullets that would have hit me dead on if I didn’t shoot out my left arm in defense of myself, it shot the energy blast spiraling up my left arm.

The chaos energy turned blue, yet again, and then continued to spiral my left forearm. It didn’t get absorbed, yet, it wasn’t going to just go away. The energy didn’t dissipate, it only stored itself along my arm in an infinite rotation.

I got and idea and motioned my hand into a finger gun and fired the Chaotic energy back at Shadow, to which he responded by teleportation. Not only was he out of the way of the attack, he was right in front of me. I got intercepted with a rotating kick to the right.

“I see, energy attacks towards you will only allow you to direct it back to sender,” Shadow commented, his arms folded once again. I landed from his intercepting kick with a hard roll. “Is that correct, Velo?”

I don’t answer, deciding to stand up and raise my fists in defense.

“You know I already know the answer to that question, so let me get to the point,” Shadow gave off an amused, sly smirk as he continued speaking. “I’m entertaining myself with this pointless fight, you’ve got one final chance to surrender and answer the questions while you can still stand.”

Again I don’t answer, the last time I gave in to an enemy – I lost Sonic.

“Were you responsible for what happened to to the Chaos Emerald losing it’s power, did you attack Angel Island with the intent to steal the Master Emerald, are you working for Doctor Robotnik?” Shadow demanded once again, this time each word oozed with danger.

When he realized I wasn’t going to respond after a few moments, he gave a disappointed _Hm!_

“Because you won’t cooperate, I’m going to have to run with the assumption that all charges against you are validated,” Shadow continued, to which I gave a dismissive shrug to. I can’t afford to have my true identity getting around if I can no longer guard my existence to him. I already know that even if I get away, I’ll have to be careful where I go and what I do less I want to be pursued by The Resistance. “ _But,_ since you’ve manage to push The Ultimate Lifeform this far, Velo – I’ll grant you knowledge on a little secret before I kill you.”

“A secret?” I narrowed my eyes. “Why?”

“You can think of it as a final favour before your death,” Shadow held up a finger, as if he was instructing a lesson to me. His grin widened for a moment as he finished his little secret. “ _I’m not carrying a Chaos Emerald on me_.”

“W-what?!” I exclaimed in disbelief. “How have you’ve been—”

“Using Chaos Control without the help of an Emerald?” Shadow finished my sentence for me. “I’ve been enveloped in the ultimate power for so long, I no longer need them to preform Chaos Control however there’s a downside… There’s a time limit.”

“Time limit?” I inquired.

“Yes,,” Shadow held up nine fingers. His grin slowly disappeared as he continued speaking. “Nine seconds, I’ve managed to push myself to nine seconds long in stop time… but that doesn’t matter now, because I’ve finally figured it out.”

I swear, I’ve read this in a book somewhere before once upon a time ago…

“Figured what out?”

“Multiple things. You can use Chaos Control,” Shadow responded, folding his arms and closing his eyes once more. “You’ve been aware during Time Stop, you even moved during it too, I’ve never seen anyone manage to take an energy attack and turn it into their own.”

“So?”

“Since you can move during Chaos Control, even for a moment,” Shadow answered, eyeing me carefully with a cheeky smirk as if he’s already won. “It would be wise to not underestimate you and let you get close, even though I still an advantage...”

Where is he getting at? Is this a joke?Is this a _reference_ to something?

“I’ve decided on how to kill you in such a way that it won’t matter,” Shadow spoke with a deadly spike of conviction in his voice. His eyes snapped open as he revealed a pistol in his hand, a M1911 staring me in the face with it’s barrel. I gasped sharply, since Shadow can’t hit me with energy attacks… he’s going to try and use real actual bullets! I already knew that my new trick won’t work with real bullets. “You’ve gone pale, you’re scared, that means you can’t preform your trick with these!”

He’s figured me out, I’m allowing myself to be read like a book to him. In response to his plan on how to end my life, I leap as high and as far away as I can to get away. Maybe if I’m just far enough away from him, his Chaos Control will have no effect on me. However, Shadow doesn’t allow me to get very far before he starts to speak again.

“There’s nothing more you can do, Velo! _**Chaos Control**_!” I froze in the air, I’m stiff and helpless to move less I want to give up any potential to avoid the nine millimeter bullets.

 _I really need your help Sonic!_ My thoughts cried out. _Please if you can help me in any way you can!_

I watched helplessly as Shadow began to squeeze the trigger rapidly at me, four bullets traveling for naught but a yard away from me. Shadow matched my height into the air, propelling himself with the use of his shoes to fire the remaining three shots at me. Those bullets are about five inches away from my head and chest. If any of these connect, they will kill me.

  
  


“ _Tails, buddy,_ ” I suddenly heard his voice again from behind me. I can’t tell if it’s actually Sonic or if it’s a figment of my imagination. “ _I know I’ve always been there to save the day, but how long are you going to cling to me like a kid..._?”

I can’t do this on my own, I don’t have what it takes to survive this without you.

“ _You’ve changed so much over the years, you’ve got more than what it takes to save this future_!” Sonic’s voice seemingly paused for a moment before it resumed. “ _It’s your turn to save everybody, buddy, be the hero everyone needs_.”

I…

“Seeing all of those bullets just hover right before your eyes must be terrifying...” Shadow commented, snapping me back to reality as he landed back onto the ground. For a second, I swore I could’ve saw something that resembled remorse or something but it lasted for as quick as it appeared. He turned around and seemingly began to walk away. “It doesn’t make me happy that you’ve got to die, Velo, but this is for the safety of everyone. It’s been nice knowing you, for the short time I’ve known you.”

Be the hero everyone needs… I will.

My mind begun to race on what I could do about the bullets as Shadow spoke. The four that he shot at me from the ground level, if I can position myself in such a way that will give me momentum backwards and downwards, then they will fly right by me safely. It’s the three directly in front of me that will hit me no matter what I do. Time resumed quicker than I’d like, but I no longer felt any fear. It was here when a light fluttery feeling started to grow in my chest.

“ _U_ _UWOOAAA_!” I screamed as I leaned as far back as I can, kicking the stationary three bullets out in a back flip motion. I felt time resume once more and all four of the bullets that would’ve hit me flew past me, barely grazing my fur. I crashed onto the dirt road, rolling back onto my feet to meet a surprise attack from Shadow and stayed in my defensive stance when I saw him looking over his shoulder with a surprised yet satisfied look on his face.

“Three seconds,” Shadow announced with a show of corresponding fingers. He tossed his now useless, empty pistol to the side. “I was sure you’d be dead right then and there, but I guess you’re a quick thinker. You accurately guessed the trajectory of the bullets, knocked away the unavoidable ones while you positioned your body to where you’d be unharmed by all of them all at the same time.”

I did not offer a response to his observations. My head was becoming empty by the second, my body began to feel the static-like feeling again.

“What you lack in combat experience and skill – you make up for it in raw genius intellect,” Shadow tilted his head slightly, his eyes analyzing all of my features. His eyes narrowed before closing completely in thought. “Are you familiar with the name ‘Tails’ by any chance?”

“No.”

“You’d forgive me if I said you look to be related,” Shadow waved his hand dismissively. I stood ready for anything he can dish out to me. Although our melee was brief, Shadow seemed to be breathing heavier than before. I don’t feel like I’ve exerting any kind of stamina at all, despite pushing myself to the limit like never before. I only breathed slightly heavier because of adrenaline, I know that the constant use of Chaos Control and other related attacks has left Shadow winded. This, the stamina difference, is my advantage. “It really doesn’t matter, you’re going to die.”

I watch his movements but my chest burned with the intensity of a volcano, I slowly felt myself begin to well up in an unspeakable amount of energy that burnt brightly in my chest. It hurt, but at the same time it was invigorating. This feeling was so ferocious that I stopped paying attention to the world around me.

“ _ **Chaos... Arrow**_!”

The energy bullets scattered across the ground, peppering it's intended target area. Dust pollutes the ground below as a result from the energy bullets slamming into the earth. It was a desperate shot from above, each yellow hues glows differently. 

It wasn’t even a question if I escaped, his aim had become desperate and ragged. Uneven distribution of Chaos Energy  pelted the ground head on.  I allowed the surrounding dust to act as a smoke screen.

“Unbelievable!” Shadow exclaimed. "It missed?!” 

I answered his question with a non-verbal response to the gut, Shadow recoiled from the sudden and ultimately painful retaliation. 

“ _ **Chaos**_ _**Co**_ —!” Before Shadow could even breathe out the last syllable of his command, I was already on him. Shadow didn’t even finish his breath before a sudden and quick jab punch made connection with his jaw.

I leaped back to put space between Shadow and I as I felt the static-like pain crawl over my skin, this time however, it didn’t hurt. It only felt like sheer raw power and I felt it travel down my  entire body in a drip-like fashion. 

The beat s of my heart resonated with heat –  heat hot enough to melt the sun. S corching blood boiled  through my veins, fueling my body with power . I felt the power growing in my chest become hot, hotter than any sun in existence.  There was a barrier inside of me that was melting away, it had always been in me but now I no longer felt restraint by anything. I had to be the hero everybody needs, I must believe in myself if I’ll ever have a chance... even if it meant pushing myself beyond my limitations!

“ _Zryaaaah_!” My mind was clear, I felt no emotions, I felt nothing other than the intense temperature in my body. The yellow aura that surrounded me came to life with a powerful tremor, engulfing me in powerful yellow light while it shook and cracked the surface of the ground. Blue sparks bounced off of my body. This was the power my body rejected and even though I didn’t know exactly how I’ve activated it, I knew exactly what to do with it.

I threw a right punch into his chest, followed by a left jab to his chin, again being trailed by rapid fire fists. I don’t remember feeling anything but the beat of my heart in rhythm to my attacks, I couldn’t nor wanted to stop.  I was  throwing more punches than I can even recognize as both of my hands glowed a powerful metallic gold colour,  increasing the frequency of the punches per millisecond.

“ _ **Mesh Gear Fox**_!” I cried out as I slammed my right fist into his temple followed by a left jab into his abdominal region, both of the being accompanied with uncountable follow-up strikes only milliseconds later.  Shadow couldn’t block or dodge any of the lightning quick punches, taking each hit with a grunt of pain. I made sure that only a fraction of my strength were behind the rushing attack, I wanted him to be unable to chase me any further but not mortally wound him. 

“ _U_ _UWOOAAA_!!!” I threw a hard hay-maker to end the limitless torrent of punches, sending Shadow straight into the dirt. 

If that didn’t get the message across, I wouldn’t know what will. Shadow, his body beat up, laid motionless onto the ground but his chest still rose and fell in rhythm. The heat in my chest began to subside, my fist ceased illuminating, the aura around me died down completely. 

I turned around back towards my intended direction and began to try to leave, only to realize my body began to slow down into a grinding halt. I widened my eyes as it slowly began to set in, I heard footsteps from behind me get closer and closer. Shadow actually managed to stay conscious throughout all of that?! What is he made of?!

“I’ll admit, that hurt,” Shadow teleported in front of me. The ring inhibitors on his limbs were nowhere to be seen. Shadow’s breathing was ragged and near feral, I had pushed him to the edge and he’s gotten the upper hand. I can’t move, he must’ve managed to preform Chaos Control before I could stop him. “But it’s going to take more than that defeat the Ultimate Lifeform.”

“You’re finished.” Shadow’s body glows a pulsing red, he spreads his arms out and opens the palms of both of his hands, charging up as much Chaos Energy into it as he can muster. I didn’t know what he was going for but in Chaos Control, I won’t be able to direct it back at him since he’s in point blank range. “ _ **Chaos... Lance**_!”

Shadow went to throw his palm together, only to struggle to move any further. Shadow grunted as he tried his hardest to piece together the Chaos Lance, only to discover he’s stuck. Shadow looked up me and I  just trotted right past him, but before I completely passed him – I thought I should explain.

“I activated Chaos Control at the moment I began to be affected by your Chaos Control,” I revealed. I nodded at him, looking at the under-powered volatile energy blasts in both of his hands. “I hope you a speedy recovery, because once time resumes – well, I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

I once again, make my speedy exit. After time resumed, I did in fact hear a small boom in the distance followed by a dust cloud. I still felt Shadow’s energy, weakly, but he in fact is alive. I sighed and moved on down the dirt road.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes that was a jojo reference


End file.
